Week 12 of the NFL DFS season has arrived and it is time to win some big money using stacks.
While fantasy football stacks are becoming more prevalent in redraft leagues, the ability to stack players has always been one of the main strategic plays in daily fantasy.
This weekly article will focus on what are the best stack plays in a given week for DFS.
While these plays can be applicable to FanDuel and other daily fantasy sites, this article will focus primarily on DraftKings pricing.
What is stacking in DFS?
A fantasy football stack is when you take two or more players from the same team in order to double your points. This is a strategy that is especially useful in games with high over-unders.
While you are able to stack a quarterback with a running back and or a tight end, we’ll be focusing on the best stacks available between a quarterback and a wide receiver.
What is most important when stacking in DFS?
What is most important to pay attention to, with or without stacking, is a player’s cost and their ultimate output of points.
For example: QB Jalen Hurts had an average cost of $6,700 last season and had five weeks in which he scored 4x his weekly cost.
Ultimately, factoring in the elements of stacking players along with a strong return on investment on players’ costs will put you in the best position to cash in this season.
Week 12 NFL DFS Stacks & Picks for DraftKings, FanDuel
Without further ado, here are some of the best DFS stack options for Week 12 of the 2022 NFL season:
QB Jacoby Brissett ($5,400) & WR Amari Cooper ($6,400), Browns vs Buccaneers
- Combined Price: $11,800 – 23.5% of lineup salary
With Deshaun Watson set to return next week, Week 12 not only represents the calm before the storm, it serves as the final time Jacoby Brissett starts for the Browns this season.
That being said, the recommendation of stacking Brissett with Amari Cooper goes beyond the sentimental value of Brissett’s final start before he heads to the bench.
In his last three starts, Brissett has scored three times his week’s cost. Included in those games are two weeks in which the Browns quarterback has scored more than 20 points. Those numbers have Brissett as the sixth-highest-scoring quarterback in his last three games.
The most notable of those starts was last week as Brissett threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns. That resulted in him scoring 29.86 points and having his first 300-yard passing performance since 2019.
On the receiving end of 113 of those passing yards last week is one of the most underrated DFS wide receivers this season, Amari Cooper.
Headed into this weekend’s games, Cooper is seventh among wide receivers in DraftKings points. Along with his five games of 20 or more points scored, three of Cooper’s seven touchdowns have come in his last three games.
While the Buccaneers are allowing the 11th-fewest points to the wide receiver position, 32.24% of their points allowed have come in their last three games.
In regards to what the Buccaneers are allowing to quarterbacks, they are stingy in passing yards allowed. Headed into this week, they have allowed an average of 215.1 yards per game. The meat and potatoes of what the Buccaneers are allowing to quarterbacks are the 16 touchdown passes, which is tied for fourth most in the league.
The Browns could also be in a position to pass the ball with the Buccaneers handily the run better on the road than at home. The defense is allowing an average of 92 rushing yards on the road, which is the sixth lowest in the league.
Lastly, the Browns’ defense will play a role in Brissett’s fantasy success as they have allowed 30 or more points in four of their last six games. In those games, Brissett has attempted at least 34 passes.
QB Joe Burrow ($6,700) & WR Tee Higgins ($6,900), Bengals vs Titans
- Combined Price: $13,600 – 27.2% of lineup salary
For the second week in a row, I’m nominating a Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins stack for your DFS lineups. Before we get into those two players, it is looking more and more like Ja’Marr Chase will be returning to the Bengals’ huddle.
While it is understandable if you want to plug in Chase and his $7,600 price tag, there is still a world in which both wide receivers will be productive against the Titans defense.
This Titans’ defense has been a fantasy football safe haven for wide receivers. While they are second in points allowed to the position over the past three weeks, their struggles have been a constant throughout the season.
Headed into this week, the Titans have allowed 13 touchdowns to opposing wide receivers. That number is tied for second most in the league. This would include the two touchdowns that the defense allowed to Christian Watson last Thursday night.
In that game against the Packers last week, the Titans allowed three different receivers to record five receptions or more. That speaks well to the notion mentioned earlier that there is enough production to go around with the Bengals’ wide receivers.
Last week was a dominant game for Higgins as he hauled in nine of 13 targets for 148 yards. Despite not reaching the endzone, that performance still had Higgins finishing as the fourth-best wide receiver on the week with 26.8 points scored.
If there is still a true concern for those wondering about Higgins’s involvement with Chase returning, look back to Week 4 of this season. In that matchup against the Dolphins, Higgins out-targeted Chase on his way to 124 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Getting back to Joe Burrow, the Bengals signal caller is fourth amongst quarterbacks in DraftKings scoring, which would include 31.7 points in Week 11.
That would mark Burrow’s third game this season scoring 30 or more points and his fourth game with 300 or more yards passing.
With Burrow being priced at $6,700 that DraftKings has yet to catch up to the success that the Bengals quarterback is having.
As we often discuss, the key when scouting some of these players is if you can get a return on your investment. For Burrow to score three times his Week 12 price tag, he will need to return 20.1 points.
Playing Burrow at that price should have him returning on that investment as the Titans are allowing an average of 21.8 points to quarterbacks on a per-game basis.
Some might counter that with the Titans allowing a quarterback to score over 20 points once in the last five weeks. Look closer into whom the Titans were playing and you will see teams like the Colts, Texans, Broncos, and Packers.
Burrow and the Bengals offense is on another from that and yet again be towards the top of DFS scoring.
QB Geno Smith ($6,000) & WR Tyler Lockett ($6,200), Seahawks vs Raiders
- Combined Price: $12,200 – 24.4% of lineup salary
When looking over quarterback pricing for Week 12, Geno Smith was a player who jumped out at me. In spite of Smith being the eighth-best quarterback in DraftKings scoring, he is priced at just $6,000.
That price tag is actually $200 less than last week when the Seahawks quarterback had this second straight week with 20 or more points scored.
The 20.2 points Smith scored last week came against a Buccaneers defense that is allowing the 10th-fewest fantasy points to the position. Smith and the Seahawks will now turn their attention to a Raiders defense that is allowing the sixth most points.
This Raiders defense has been all about allowing, and almost never taking away. As it stands now, the Raiders are tied for third with 17 touchdown passes allowed and are one of just three teams with three or fewer interceptions.
Much like the previously mentioned Titans, the Raiders are allowing 21.8 points per game to quarterbacks. That scoring would include six games with 20 or more points allowed to the position, the second-highest in the league.
If you circle back to the 3X model that has been by numerous sites and daily fantasy players, for Geno Smith to score three times his Week 12 price, he would need just 18 points.
Considering the previously mentioned Raiders numbers and Smith scoring more than that 18 in his last three games, this seems too easy.
As far as who we are stacking Smith with, look for Tyler Lockett and his $6,200 price tag to be the play. Lockett has had three straight games with a touchdown.
On paper, the Raiders’ defense looks good against the wide receiver. Headed into this week, the team has allowed only eight wide receiver touchdowns. Looking deeper into those numbers though, half of those touchdowns has come in the last three weeks.
QB Tua Tagovailoa ($6,900) & WR Tyreek Hill ($8,800), Dolphins vs Texans
- Combined Price: $15,700 – 31.4% of lineup salary
Fresh off of their bye week, Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill represent my highest-priced stack this week, and with good reason.
In his last three games played, Tagovailoa has scored 82.68 points, good for fourth most among a quarterback’s previous three games. Included in that point total are three straight games with three touchdown passes and two games with over 300 yards passing.
The Texans are the Dolphins’ next opponent and shockingly enough, the struggling franchise is fourth in the fewest fantasy points allowed to the quarterback position.
The recurring theme in this week’s article is to look within those numbers for a clearer perspective. Over their ten games played this season, with the exception of Justin Herbert or Jalen Hurts, would be hard-pressed to find a quarterback that poses a true threat.
As a matter of fact, the Texans have only faced three teams this season that throw the ball on 60% or more of their offensive plays.
In two out of those three games, the Texans allowed the opposing quarterback to score more than 20 fantasy points. In those three games, the Texans allowed four of the nine touchdown passes they have allowed all season.
The Miami Dolphins are passing the ball on 61.35% of their offensive plays this season.
An article about Tyreek Hill in fantasy this season can practically write itself.
Following the Thanksgiving games, Hill sits as the third-highest-scoring wide receiver this season. He is also second in the league with 1,148 yards receiving.
For Hill to score three times his DraftKings cost this week, the talented Dolphins pass catcher will need 26.4 points. He has surpassed that mark five times this season.
As one would expect, the Texans’ defense has not allowed a lot of points to opposing wide receivers either.
On top of allowing the second-fewest points to the position, the Texans are the only team in the NFL to allow less than 100 receptions to wide receivers.
As stated earlier, the Texans have rarely been put to the test in terms of a strong passing game. This is where the rubber meets the road and I fully expect the stack of Tagovailoa and Hill to smash the Texans’ current numbers.
